NEW LONDON, CT, April 25, 2012 — The guys from the musically geeky Acoustic Addicts webshow have made test recordings of five Martin guitars in this, their second episode at youtube.com/AcousticAddicts. Carl and Richard compare the recordings with spectral analysis.

Serious acoustic guitar players know all about Martin, the company from Nazareth, PA that put the steel string guitar on the map. Martin has continuously put out top-shelf instruments since 1833. The second episode of Acoustic Addicts is all about comparing Martin dreadnought-style guitars.

Guitarist Carl Franklin and acoustic guitar specialist Richard Caruso compare a 2011 D-18 sporting a mahogany back and sides, a 2011 D-28 with East Indian rosewood back and sides, a 2011 D-35 – which has a higher-grade sitka spruce top as well as lighter bracing and a three-piece back (also East Indian rosewood), a 1968 D-35 which also has the 1/4″ bracing but sports Brazilian rosewood sides and three-piece back, and a 1997 HD-35 that has scalloped bracing as well as East Indian rosweood sides and three-piece back. They also throw an entry-level Yamaha Gigmaker into the mix.

Caruso and Franklin do a sort-of “show and tell” for the instruments, highlighting their design features and hinting at aural strengths and/or weaknesses. Franklin gives his golden-ear impressions of their overall sound, and Caruso’s seemingly endless guitar-making stories leave you wanting more.

Viewers watch a real-time spectrum analyzer as Franklin strums and picks each guitar. At the end of the show they look at recordings of Franklin strumming an E chord with each guitar in Adobe Audition’s “Spectral View”, which shows more intense colors where there is more saturation in the frequency spectrum. Yummy!

Acoustic Addicts seems to appeal to a new breed of guitar player who enjoys both the art and science of the instrument in equal measure. Even if you just fancy good guitar playing, you’ll be intrigued by Caruso’s storytelling and Franklin’s picking.